The Curse of the August Friendly continues

By: Francesco | August 20th, 2008

The annual August friendly is not really something Azzurri fans look forward too. In Italy, people are away vacationing at the beach and therefore are not in front of the televisions watching the game. In addition to that, the August friendly every two years takes place after a major tournament, which means we usually get to see a new manager in his first game in charge, experimenting with new tactics, players, and playing style. In addition to that, the players are still in the preseason and are not in top form, so we get to see lazy, half-effort performances from all our favorite superstars. So are August friendlies the most exciting games to watch? Not really. But this year the August friendly attracted a larger audience however, because everyone was curious to see the return of Marcello Lippi. I don’t think people were interested in the game, I think they just wanted to turn on the TV and comfort themselves by seeing Lippi standing by the Azzurri bench instead of seeing this:

The game was played in the French town of Nice, basically because they offered the FIGC good money to play there. Alex Del Piero was the captain (making his 90th appearance! can you believe Del Piero has played 90 times for Italy?) and in the starting XI there were only two players that didn’t partake in the post-match celebrations on July 9, 2006: Daniele Bonera (who was actually a reserve for the 2006 squad), and Antonio Di Natale. Italy started off with good intensity, but eventually the more physical and in form Austrians took over possession. Zambrotta took a nice shot from 30 yards out that Manninger (now a Juve player) saved. In the 14th minute, the Euro 2008 co-hosts took the lead. A cross was played in to Pogatetz, who let the ball bounce and then unleashed a unstoppable volley that sailed past Buffon. Italy were 1-0 down. Two minutes later, Gilardino incredibly missed a breakaway (but then again, he’s done it a couple of times for Milan). He was sent 1 on 1 with Manninger, but he tried to fake the shot and slipped, and then shot it into the Austrian goalkeeper’s hands. Austria then doubled their lead. The central defensive pairing of Bonera and Barzagli failed to deal with a throw in and left Janko open to volley home for Austria’s second goal. Gattuso had to go off injured because of a shoulder problem, and Perrotta came in to play the last few seconds of the first half. Just when it looked like Italy would go into the half 2-0 down, they pulled one back. Di Natale’s cross was going to reach Gilardino, but Austrian defender Stranzl knew Gila would miss so he put it in for us. On the replay it looked like he kicked it off Gila and I think Gila is credited with the goal. After the half Italy played better and made substitutions, with Dossena, Legrottaglie, and Aquilani all coming in. Palombo and Cassetti also came in later on. Del Piero was through on goal and was almost in the same exact position he was vs. Germany in 2006, but this time he missed the net. Thank God he put it in 2 years ago. Italy drew level on an unusual play. Zambrotta crossed from the right and Austrian debutant keeper Ozcan came out to punch the ball but he punched it into his own net. So Italy were level. The Azzurri pressed forward for a third (and the first goal that they would actually score), but it never came. 2-2 FT. Which isn’t bad for an August friendly considering our abysmal record in August friendlies. Lippi after the game said he was satisfied and mentioned that Cannavaro and Materazzi were missing, as were Gamberini and Chiellini. On to World Cup qualifying…

Italy: Buffon; Zambrotta (Cassetti 70), Bonera (Legrottaglie 46), Barzagli, Grosso (Dossena 46); Gattuso (Perrotta 45), Pirlo (Aquilani 46), De Rossi; Di Natale, Gilardino, Del Piero (Palombo 74)

Austria: Manninger (Oczan 46); Garics, Prodl, Stranzl, Pogatetz (Leitgeb 59); Scharner (Gercallu 46), Saumel, Harnik (Standfest 71), Ivanschitz (Linz 85), Fuchs; Janko (Maierhofer 65)

Ratings from datasport.it:

ITALIA
Buffon 5.5
Barzagli 5
Bonera 6
Dossena 6
Grosso 6
Legrottaglie 6.5
Zambrotta 6.5
Aquilani 6
Cassetti s.v.
De Rossi 6
Gattuso 5.5
Palombo s.v.
Perrotta 6
Pirlo 5
Del Piero 6
Di Natale 5.5
Gilardino 6